This weekend during the Nothing But Nets City Tour in Los Angeles we had help from some special friends of the campaign. Diego Gutierrez of the Chicago Fire and Dwayne de Rosario of the Houston Dynamo were on hand for a series of events to tell people - from business leaders to youth soccer players - that malaria kills and nets save lives.
It has been more than a year and a half since Diego Gutierrez brought the Nothing But Nets campaign to Major League Soccer, and in that time more players have joined him to support the global effort to prevent malaria, including Dwayne de Rosario who, together with Diego, traveled to Mali last year to participate in the distribution of bed nets to children.
So on Saturday it was a blast to have them on hand, along with Nick Garcia of the San Jose Earthquakes, to work with 100 youth soccer players during a Nothing But Nets malaria clinic. The kids quite literally ran around the field at the Home Depot Center, participating in fun activities to learn more about malaria and moving through soccer clinics with the professional players. And on Sunday at MLS CUP, Diego and Dwayne even caught up with the Mozzie the mosquito at Soccer Celebration!
It was a great weekend all around - big thanks to Diego, Dwayne and Nick!